Huge news for grey long-eared bats- 2Aug26

Posted on by somersetbatgroup in Bat News, SBG Events, SBG News, SBG Newsletter


We start with huge news for grey long-eared bats in Somerset, with a million pound project starting soon. See below for details.

Also in this July Bat Group Newsletter:

Saving the Grey Long-Eared Bat project

It has just been announced that this BCT led project has secured over one million pounds in funding from the governments Species Recovery Programme for a two year project across the south west and Wessex. Well done to everyone in the group who helped make this happen!

“The grey long-eared bat is one of the rarest mammals in the UK. It is threatened by climate change, habitat loss and a shortage of suitable roosts. Warmer weather in future may make more parts of England suitable for this bat, but it still needs the right habitats to survive and spread.  

Funding from the Species Recovery Programme for this BCT-led project will help protect existing bat colonies and help them grow. We will look for new roosts, improve feeding areas close to important roosts, and help connect different bat habitats. By creating safe routes and good places for bats to feed and rest across Devon, Dorset, Somerset, the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, the project will help grey long-eared bats survive in the long term and move into new areas.”

More details on the BCT website: https://www.bats.org.uk/news/2026/07/government-investment-boosts-recovery-for-some-of-englands-rarest-bats

The BCT is already seeking an experienced project manager to lead this new partnership project.
For full details and to download an application pack, please see the website: https://www.bats.org.uk/the-trust/jobs-careers/saving-gle-project-manager

Wild Women Bat Walk

In what is a first for the group, a Wild Women bat walk, for women, by women, was held on the 2nd July in the wonderful village of Norton Sub Hamdon. The event was organised by bat group member Helen Hawke, and our secretary Liz was leading. The event was in partnership with the Yeo Rivers Community Trust (YRCT) and borrowed the bat groups detectors.

Helen reports “We had a great evening, saw and heard Pipistrelle, both common and soprano. Noctule and Serotine, sometimes at close quarters. Liz was amazing as ever, who knew a bat migrates to Russia and beyond”

Skydiving for BCT

On 16th August, Somerset Bat group member, Emily Williams will be undertaking a tandem skydive to raise funds for the Bat Conservation Trust.

Emily comes from Bristol and has recently joined our group. Bats are a huge passion of hers and she is training towards a bat licence.

You can support her BCT fundraising via her Just Giving page:

Big Bat Count reports

Highbridge Big Bat Count – Fri 24th July

Highbridge Big Bat Count 2026 – on the night results

Around 15 people met on a warm and surprisingly breezy night in a Highbridge car park. After the briefing, the group split into 3 teams to explore the wilder areas of Highbridge.

In the past Highbridge’s vast open western sky has meant the bats were late to emerge, but this year the first bats were seen at 9:35PM only 25mins after sunset. A total of 27 bat observations were made across 6 species, with Common Pipistrelle and Soprano Pipistrelle being the most frequently observed.

Initial unverified observations from the night of 24th July 2026 are in iNaturalist:

The recordings made on the night have now been downloaded and initial analysis done. There were a total 219 bat passes recorded across a possible 6 species. The majority being Common Pipistrelle (60%), Soprano Pipistrelle (28%) and then Noctule (9%) There were three passes of Serotine. Then just a single recording of Daubenton’s, and possibly a Nathusius’ Pipistrelle which will need more verification.

Castle Cary Big Bat Count – Sat 1st August

This count was organised and run by local bat group member Neville, and he reports:

“The fifth annual bat count in Castle Cary and Ansford on Saturday 1st August enjoyed a still, largely clear night, pleasantly cooler than in recent weeks. 24 people divided into five groups to survey different parts of town, including for the first time the new estates that have been built to the north-west.

There were 42 observations on the night, half as many as last year; this may be evidence for bats having suffered from this year’s drought and heat, but also some groups had a few issues with the equipment, especially iNaturalist – one group’s observations haven’t been uploaded yet. 7 species were observed; Common Pipistrelles were the majority as usual (59%), followed by Serotines (17%) and equal numbers of Noctules and Soprano Pipistrelles (9% each).

The other observations need to be verified – and in the case of the Greater Horseshoe at least, are almost certainly false. On the other hand, the group that hasn’t uploaded its results yet was positive that it got a good Brown Long-Eared signal…

Many thanks to Keith Ball for help on the night.”

Initial unverified observations from the night of 1st August 2026 are in iNaturalist:

Bat Detector workshops

Join in a PippyG-athon!

In a world first* we’ll be running a PippyG-athon. This is for anyone who wants to build one or more of the PippyG ultrasound recorders. The PippyG is a AudioMoth-like reorder, but with the huge advantage of triggering for bats (or birds).
We’ll start in the morning and just keep going until everyone has built as many as they want!

Costs are:

  • Each PippyG = £15
  • You can make a weather proof case (we have 2 designs) = £2.50 each
  • Optional soft shell carry case (if available) = £1 each
  • We’ll have to cover venue hire, so £5 for the first PippyG made, then £2.50 extra for each subsequent one.

“*” = “probably”

PippyG ultrasound recorder

There are only 2 spaces left, so please email to book ASAP – somersetbatgroup@gmail.com
More details on our website: https://somersetbat.group/advice/which-bat-detector/build-detector/

Avalon Marshes Bat Detector Workshop – 4th July

Due to popular demand and a long waiting list from the Spring workshops Andy held more Bat Detector making workshop at the Avalon Marshes Centre. The event was promoted by the Wildlife Trust and was again sold out quickly, with people coming from as far away as Bristol and Dartmoor.

There was a morning and afternoon session. All the attendees decided to build Mini Pipistrelles, and everyone left with a working bat detector, with 15 out of 16 being ones they had made. Success!

The next Bat Group Events

There are lots of things planned, so come along and get involved! The next events are:

  • Tues 4th August – Frome2 Big Bat Count
  • Fri 7th August – Blagdon Hill Big Bat Count
  • Sat 8th August – Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Group Big Bat Count
  • Fri 14th August – Drayton Big Bat Count
  • Sat 22th Aug – Bridgwater Big Bat Count
  • W’end 28th Aug – Kingsdon Big Bat Count
  • W’end 4th Sept – Somerton Bat Walk
  • Sat 5th Sept – Ham Wall bat box checks
  • Sun 6th Sept – Levels bat box checks
  • Fri 11th Sept – Charltons Big Bat Count
  • Sat 12th Sept – Great Breach bat box checks
  • Sat 19th Sept – Kings Castle Bat box checks
  • Sat 3rd October – PippyG-athon – Bat Recorder Building Workshop

Details of how to get involved for all events are on the website: https://somersetbat.group/events/

Bat Workers Forum

The Bat Workers Forum (BWF) is an annual meeting held online open to anyone interested in bats, regardless of whether the interest is professional or voluntary and regardless of experience.

The aims of the forum are to:

  • Facilitate communication and the sharing of experience between all bat workers and those interested in bats, regardless of knowledge or experience.
  • Enable the concerns, views and opinions of bat workers, bat groups and anyone interested in bats to be shared and discussed and, where relevant, communicated through to BCT and SNCOs
  • Enable feedback, from the relevant parties (e.g. BCT or SNCOs) on issues previously raised.
  • A roundup of major issues and/or highlights from attendees

This year’s Bat Workers Forum will be held online on Zoom on Thursday 22nd of October 2026 at 7pm.

For further information, and to view the minutes from last year’s meeting, please visit: https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/conferences-symposia/bat-workers-forum

I will be in touch at a later date with the booking link, but for now please save the date in your diary.  Any questions regarding the BWF, please email batgroups@bats.org.uk

Best wishes, Dan Bryant, BCT Bat Groups Officer

Bat group bulletin

The latest BCT Bat Group Bulletin includes a request from the BCT Science team who are looking for .wav audio recordings of baby or juvenile bat vocalisations (audible or ultrasonic) from any UK bat species, recorded while the bats are not in flight:

All past editions of the Bulletin can be found on this page of our website:

Membership renewal time

It’s the time of the year to think about membership of the bat group. There are currently:

  • 58 members who last paid membership in 2025, and their membership lapsed at our annual meeting in April

We will send an email to each member detailing your current membership status, so please check your inbox (and spam).

It costs just £5 per household to rejoin the bat group (free for students/unwaged), and your renewed membership would then run until our April 2027 annual meeting, on 17th April 2027.

For regular members, you might like to consider taking out lifetime membership, which is just £50 per household.

Please pay your membership subs by BaCs or Paypal. Then:

  • If your details have changed, then complete our online membership form to update your information. 
  • OR, if nothings changed, simply just drop us an email to let us know you have paid.

Full details on our website: https://somersetbat.group/join/